The Hifiory of Book I. 



ter we treat of, we conceive the Reader will take it kindly to 

 be entertain cl with it, alluring himfelf he hath it with the fame 

 fincerity as it was communicated to us. 



l The Captain of whom we have this Relation, leaving Zea- 

 land at the end of the Spring, 1656. with a defign to difcover 

 fomenew Commerce in the Northern parts, arrived at the end 

 of June following in Davis-Jireight i whence having entred in- 

 to a River which begins at the fixty fourth degree, and ten 

 minutes of the Line Northward, he failed to the feventy fe- 

 cond, under which the Country we intend to defcribe lyes. 



r- Asfoon as the Inhabitants of the Country., who were then 

 afifhing, perceived theSbip, they came towards it with their 

 little Boats,which are fo made as that they carry but one person: 

 The firft who attempted it occafion'd the joyning of fo many 

 others to them, that in a (hort time there was a fquadron of fe- 

 venty of thofe little veflels, which parted not from the foreign 

 Ship till it had caft Anchor in the beft H^ven, where by their 

 acclamations and all the fignsof friendfhip and good will that 

 could be expe&ed from a Nation fo far unacquainted with ci- 

 vility, they exprefs'd the extraordinary joy they conceived at 

 its happy arrival : Thefe little veffels are fo admirable, whe- 

 ther we confider their materials a or the ftrange induftry in the 

 making of them, or the incomparable dexterity whereby they 

 are conducted, that they may well be allow'd a place among 

 the descriptions which this delightful digreffion ftiall furnifh 

 us with. 1 



They confift of little thin pieces of wood 5 whereof moft are 

 cleft like Hoops : Thefe pieces of wood are faften'd one to 

 another with, ftrong cords made of the guts of fifties, which 

 keep them t6gether in a figure fit for the ufes to which they 

 are defign'd : They are cover 'd on the out-fide with the fkins 

 of Sea-Dogs, which are fo neatly fewn together, and fo artifi- 

 cially done over with Rozin about thefeams, that the wader 

 cannot make the leaft entrance into them. 



Thefe little Boats are commonly about fifteen or fixteen 

 foot in length, and they may be in the midft where they are 

 biggeft about five foot circumference 5 from that place they 

 grow fmaller and fmaller, fo that the ends or extremities of 

 them are very ftiarp and plated as it were with a white bone 5 

 or a piece of the Unicorns horn before defcribed : The upper- 

 part is flat and even, and cover d with leather as the reft, and 

 the lower part is fafhion'd like the belly of a great fifh 3 fo 

 that they are very fwift upon the water : they have but one 

 overture , or open place , which is juft in the midft of the 

 whole ftruclure : It is rais'd a little about with a fmall ledge of 

 Whale-bone, and it is made fit for the reception of one man, 

 fo as that being in it, his wafte fills the hole. When the Savages 

 who invented thefe kinds of Boats would make ufe of them, 



either 



no 



